The Artist and The Reader
by Uponly
Summary: Lucius Sterling, a gifted artist, wants to live a more adventurous life. He decides to become a hunter-in-training to fulfill his dream. During his morning routine he meets a girl with a black bow. OCxBlake. Other pairings yet to be decided.
1. Chapter 1

The Artist and The Reader

Like everyone morning since he started attending his new schools, Lucius Sterling walked to the balcony that overlooked the river which led Beacon. It was, in his opinion, the best apart about Beacon. It even beat the beauty of the Forest of Forever Fall. He loved the way the sunrise looked every morning, it being mirrored in the water below. Every morning he'd take his sketchpad and drawing utensils to that balcony and drew.

Lucius, or Luke to his close friends, was considered by some people an artistic genius. Although he himself didn't think so, his work was usually highly praised. Ever since he was four years old he loved to draw and paint. But after a while, he began to get bored being stuck in a studio all the time, he decided to lead a more adventurous life and becoming a huntsman in training seemed to achieve that. Lucius was about average height and had a medium build. He had black, shoulder length and deep, green eyes. His normal attire consisted of a dark red shirt with a black waistcoat and black suit pants.

After completing his four years of Signal with weapon, Ferrum Colaphis, a pair of black iron gloves powered by Dust which fires different elements out of the palms, he applied and succeeded in getting into Beacon. After the initiation he was put into team LOKI consisting of himself, Owen Trepidare, Kyros Bellum and Iris Decus with Lucius as team leader.

Lucius is usually the first to wake up so he can go to, what he called, the 'solis ortis' balcony. For the last two weeks he has gone to the balcony to sketch the magnificent view, but one day his daily routine was interrupted by certain girl who donned a black bow.

"You're up early."

Lucius looked up from his sketchpad but didn't turn his head to person who has ruined his morning routine.

"I suppose I am. Is it a crime to gaze upon a grand sunrise?" Lucius asked, finally turning to look at the intruder.

But as he did, he was stunned by the beauty that stood before him. Words couldn't describe what he was seeing. He fell into a trance staring into those golden eyes of hers. After what seemed like an eternity, the mystery girl spoke again.

"Are you... okay?"

Heat started to rise to his cheeks as his awkwardly tried to seem normal, and not some weirdo that stares at people, but failed almost immediately.

"Erm.. yeah, sorry." Lucius finally stammered out, looking downwards to escape her gaze and to avoid further embarrassment.

"So what are you doing up here this early then?" The girl in black moved elegantly to stand by him.

"Just drawing the sun rising, like I do everyday."

"Everyday?"

"Yes, I love how the light reflects of the water's surface and how the sun fits perfectly between the cliffs. Beautiful, don't you think?"

"It is. How long have you been coming up here?"

"About two weeks now."

"How does it take two weeks to draw one sunset?"

"People say that I have an eye for detail and I think that my drawings have to be perfect. I hate to not put all my effort into my art so usually I take a long but I think it's worth it."

As Lucius talked, the girl in black nodded along completely understanding what he meant.

"Fair enough. Oh, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Blake. Blake Belladonna" She held her out, initializing a handshake.

"Lucius. Lucius Sterling. Or you can call me Luke." he raised his hand to accept the gesture.

"Sorry for interrupting your sunrise by the way."

"It's fine, I did what I wanted to do today anyway." He said shrugging.

"Well then I suppose I should go now, I need to go to the library and return a few books. I'll maybe see you later, Lucius Sterling."

"Goodbye Blake Belladonna." he said while watching her walk away.

He grabbed his sketchpad and utensils and swiftly walked by to his dorm room, a light blush on his face, his heartbeat ever so slightly quickened by the thought of the newly acquainted Blake Belladonna.

**This is my first attempt at writing fanfiction. Critiques/reviews are most certainly welcomed.**

**~Uponly**


	2. A run in

**A/N:**** So yeah… 8 months in the making. I'm sorry that this is really late. I didn't expect this to take this long to write but school got in the way. I'll try to upload more often but I can't promise anything. Anyway on with the story.**

Chapter 2

Lucius arrived at his team's room. When he entered he got a few confused looks from his team. They didn't usually see Lucius until lessons started.

"You're back early." said Iris, her usual cheerful tone filled with confusion and a hint of worry. Lucius was a creature of habit, his teammates knew this, so any deviation from his daily morning routine would seem weird to them.

With a brisk pace, Lucius walked past his team to his bed, dropped his drawing equipment and turned to walk to the bathroom. A sly grin appeared on Owen's face, knowing exactly what happened from past experiences.

"Who is she?" said Owen, with a smile only rivalled by a Cheshire Cat. After being friends with Lucius for five years he pretty much knew what action caused which reaction.

"I don't know who you're talking about." Lucius said sternly.

"Two weeks and you already have a crush on someone. That's got to be some sort of record."

"I don't have a crush on her."

"Oh there is a girl? I thought you said you don't know who I'm talking about?" said Owen, the sly grin ever present on his face.

"Fuck you." He hated it when his words are used against him. It was what Owen was best at.

"Fine. Her name is Blake." Lucius slightly angered that Owen could read him so easily.

"Isn't Blake a boy's name?" asked Kyros.

"Well evidently it's unisex. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to take a shower." Lucius started to enter the bathroom.

"But didn't you have one earlier?" asked Iris, slightly confused at Lucius taking two showers in one morning. Lucius ignored her and mentally scolded himself for picking such a poor excuse to get out of that situation.

"I bet you're going to think about that Blake girl while you're in there, aren't you Luke?" Kyros jeered, his deep voice booming from the other side of the door.

Owen and Kyros almost fell to the floor laughing as Lucius shouted swear after swear at them. Iris was a bit too innocent too understand the joke but chuckled anyway.

(***)

After a whole day of Kyros and Owen pointing to various girls asking '_Is that Blake?'_ Lucius finally got to dorm room building, glad he won't have to deal with them deal with them for at least another hour or so. He thanked his lucky stars that he didn't share _all_ of his lesson with Owen and Kyros.

As he walked to his room, he pondered about Blake and what Owen had said. '_I've talked to her for about five minutes, I can't have possibly got a crush on her in that time, it's practically impossible.'_ Lucius thought, dismissing it shortly.

As he approached the corridor where his room was, he heard what sounded like someone running. He ignored it, assuming it was just someone late for class. He would certainly regret this decision.

"_WATCH OUT!"_

He turned around in time to see a flash of red collide with him. He started to stand up when he heard a girl's voice which was filled with worry.

"Are you ok?"

Lucius finally found out who knocked him onto the floor. He never really talked to her but did know her name was Ruby. What made her quiet notable to Lucius was her massive sniper-scythe that he'd seen her use in combat training. As well as being impressed on how she used it, he also was impressed by the idea that she designed and forged that weapon herself.

"Yeah, I'm fine. How about you?" Lucius said.

"I'm ok, I suppose. This isn't the best first impression, is it?" Said Ruby rather sheepishly.

"There could be worse ways to meet someone."

"Well my name's Ruby. What about you?"

"The name's Lucius but you can call me Luke if you want."

The two fell silent, allowing the awkwardness to settle. However the quiet was shattered by blood-curdling screech.

"_RUBY ROSE, YOU GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!"_

Ruby went as white as a sheet as she remembered why she running before. She quickly darted behind Lucius hoping the oncoming storm wouldn't shout at her. Lucius just stood there, slightly confused at the whole situation. But as soon as She came into view he understood why Ruby was cowering.

It was safe to say that the girl in front of him was a bit more than miffed. Her face was almost as red as Ruby's cape, quite the difference from her white ensemble, and Lucius was pretty sure he could see steam coming out of her ears. She marched up to Ruby and Lucius furiously.

"Please don't let her take me." Ruby whispered up to Lucius.

"HOW DARE YOU TRY TO SKIP YOUR PRIVATE THEORY LESSONS WITH ME!" Said the angry girl.

"I'm sorry Weiss." Ruby said rather meekly and then looked up at her human shield, hoping Lucius would get her out of the mess she got herself into. With a roll of his eyes and a sigh, Lucius quickly thought of an excuse for the red head to escape the living embodiment of anger that stood before them.

"Ruby actually has to help me redesign my weapon and the forge is going to close soon so we have to… go…" Lucius said slowly pulling Ruby away then finally breaking off into a sprint.

"HEY, YOU TWO COME BACK HERE!" said the incarnation of anger formerly known as Weiss Schnee.

(***)

"You're welcome by the way."

Lucius and Ruby were sitting outside the Beacon Forge and were out of breath. The heat of the forge was warming them up in the otherwise chilly air.

"Thanks again for helping me." Said Ruby, thanking whatever gods and/or goddesses sent Lucius to her in her time of need.

"Anyway, to pay me back, can I see the blueprints for weapon? I've always wanted to see how your scythe works." Asked Lucius.

"Sure." Said Ruby as she dug around her backpack for the blueprints. "Luckily for you I had to perform my weekly maintenance on it today so I got them with me. Didn't know you were such a weapon nerd?"

"Well swords and guns are good and all but I really love unique weapons like yours." Lucius said as scratched the back of his head.

Ruby lay the plans onto the floor leaving Lucius to practically drool over them (although if he actually did that Lucius' head would have been hanging outside Team RWBY's dorm).

"You designed all of this!?" asked Lucius, surprised at the detail of it all.

"Actually I got my uncle to help me with the harder bits. He a scythe user like myself."

Lucius stared at the designs, his eyes travelling across the plans. Each look giving him even more detail about the sniper-scythe. Unfortunately, he was interrupted by a quiet beep.

"Sorry but Yang wants me back at the dorm so I have to go." Ruby gathered the plans and put them into her bag. I'll see you later."

Ruby said as she dashed off, leaving a trail of rose petals behind her.

(***)

"Where have you been?" asked Owen as Lucius threw himself onto his bed.

"Places." Replied Lucius weakly, not caring as he was tired from making the walk from the forge to his room.

"Places with Blake perhaps?" Owen teased.

Lucius couldn't be arsed to even validate that with a response. He just laid there, thinking about Crescent Rose.


End file.
